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ARTICLES ABOUT LSU BY DATE - PAGE 3

THERE ARE SIX conference championship games this weekend. Only one really matters. That of course would be the SEC final, the one that begat the proliferation of all of these other imitators some 2 decades back. Alabama and Georgia will meet in Atlanta in a defacto national semifinal to determine who gets to play Notre Dame in Miami on Jan. 7 for the BCS title. So why isn't it the prime-time matchup? Instead, you can catch it on CBS3 at 4. The loser won't even make it to a BCS bowl, because of the Florida factor.

Jarvis Landry made a spectacular one-handed touchdown catch and No. 8 LSU kept its BCS hopes alive with a 20-13 win over host Arkansas (4-8, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) in Fayetteville on Friday. The Tigers (10-2, 6-2) must hope for an Alabama loss to Auburn and a Texas A&M victory on Saturday to reach next weekend's SEC championship game. Even without a division crown, the Tigers could still get an at-large bid to the BCS. Nebraska 13, Iowa 7 - Rex Burkhead scored the go-ahead touchdown in his return from a knee injury and the No. 17 Cornhuskers (10-2, 7-1 Big Ten)

EVER SINCE the schedules first came out, this was the Saturday everyone's been eying. It had two games bringing together four of the top five preseason teams: No. 1 Southern Cal hosting No. 5 Oregon and No. 2 Alabama going to No. 3 LSU for a rematch of last January's national-title tilt. Well, here we are. And three of them are still there. Alabama is ranked first, fellow unbeaten Oregon second and once-beaten LSU fifth. USC, which just lost for the second time, has fallen to 18th.

FORMER LSU football standouts Tyrann Mathieu and Jordan Jefferson were among four ex-players arrested Thursday after police found them with marijuana at Mathieu's Louisiana apartment, police said. Lt. Don Kelly, a Baton Rouge police spokesman, said officers were called to the apartment complex about 3:30 p.m. after receiving a complaint about a man forcing his way through the security gate before going to Mathieu's apartment. "Officers immediately smelled a strong odor of marijuana and obtained consent from Mathieu to search the apartment," Kelly said.

MORE THAN a few precincts in Gator Nation weren't exactly thrilled when Florida was only leading Bowling Green by three after 45 minutes at home in the Sept. 1 opener. That's what can happen when you're trying to replace someone who won two national titles in 3 years, and you're coming off a 7-6 debut. Especially when you're employing a different offensive system than Urban Meyer, or even Steve Spurrier. But apparently, old-time football can still work. Ask Alabama's Nick Saban. Or Spurrier, whose South Carolina team, coming off its first loss, will be in Gainesville Saturday to play the nation's third-ranked squad.

LSU freshman Jeremy Hill highlighted a breakout 124-yard, two-touchdown performance with a 50-yard scoring run, and the ninth-ranked Tigers handed No. 3 South Carolina its first loss of the season, 23-21, on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La. LSU (6-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) substantially outgained South Carolina (6-1, 4-1), 406 yards to 211, but struggled to find the end zone. Three times, LSU settled for field goals after driving at least as far as the Gamecocks' 5-yard line, and another drive to the South Carolina 15 stalled on a missed field goal.

A team from the SEC West has won four of the last five national titles, including the last three. Of course a team from the SEC East won the other, plus the one in 2006. You think we'll ever be saying that about either the Big Ten Leaders or Legends? Now the SEC has four unbeatens in the top six, five in the top 10, six in the top 20. Soon, two of those unbeatens won't be. Because fourth-ranked LSU, which has dropped two spots in 2 weeks, is at No. 10 Florida. And No. 6 South Carolina hosts No. 5 Georgia.

Alabama is a unanimous No. 1 in the Top 25 for the first time this season, and Louisiana State slipped a spot again after another sketchy performance. Now the Tigers are No. 4 behind No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Florida State. With Stanford the lone team in the top 19 to lose, the top of the rankings had only some relatively minor shuffling Sunday. That will change next week, when five games feature matchups of ranked teams, including three with both teams ranked between Nos. 5 and 11. Call it the first shakedown Saturday of the season.